Electrical Power for Valdez and the Copper River Basin-1981

GLENNALLEN SYSTEMThe Glennallen system serves approximately 890 consumers over about 250miles of distribution lines. The present system extends from about 70 mileswest of Glennallen along the Glenn Highway to about 39 miles north and 55miles south of Glennallen along the Richardson Highway. The existing powerplantcontains the following diesel electric units:2 - 320 kW, 720 rpm Fairbanks Morse ( 1959) 640 kW1 - 560 kW, 720 rpm Fairbanks Morse ( 1963) 560 kW2 - 600 kW, 720 rpm Fairbanks Morse (1966) 1,200 kW2 - 2,624 kW, 450 rpm Enterprise (1975-76) 5,248 kWTotal Installed Capac ity7,648 kWThe load factors of these two separate systems average 53.3 percent and54.7 percent over the years 1970-1977 for Glennallen and Valdez, respectively.The utility1s nearly absolute dependence on diesel fuel results in a closecorrelation between the cost per kWh sold and the price of diesel. Thisinterrelationship is demonstrated in Table 1 which depicts both rates for the1970 1 s.Table 1Year Year end cost of fuel (per ga 1. ) Total Cost per kWh sold (busbar)1974 .302 .03681975 .361 .04781976 .366 .06291977 .410 .06871978 .415 .07361979 .714 .09951980 (April) .814Due to the continuing escalation of fuel costs, high maintenance andoperations costs, and the relatively short operational life of diesel driventurbines, the community strongly desires to lessen its dependence on thisenergy source.To that end, the Solomon Gulch Hydroelectric Project is expected to add12,000 kW of capacity to the system by 1981. That addition is expected tohold the $/kWh cost of the total system to $.08677 in 1982 and below $.0900throughout the 1980 1 s. Copper Valley Electric Association also has prospectsfor the construction of an oil pipeline pressure reducing turbine, asdescribed in the section concerning alternatives. In the future, theAssociation intends to dispose of its small diesel generating units and retainthe larger diesel units for emergency standby. There are however, no nearterm plans for acquiring additional gas or diesel turbines.The following tabulation gives the installed generation capacity, peakdemand, and energy load for the Valdez district for the years 1973-1979.8-2